Forum:2020-01-01 (Wednesday)
Discussion for comic for . Enjoying this wiki? Help to update it. ---- The sneaky gate is open to next year. Happy New Year! Argadi (talk) 03:32, January 1, 2020 (UTC) : I hope they keep to this schedule! Then I can go back to sleeping at night instead of staying up until 3am. Bkharvey (talk) 03:40, January 1, 2020 (UTC) : Hm. Happy New Year. ⚙Zarchne (talk) 05:04, January 1, 2020 (UTC) It's up. They're really pushing hard on making us wonder where they are! Bkharvey (talk) 05:06, January 1, 2020 (UTC) ::The whole set up is very reminiscent of the "This is no cave" scene from The Empire Strikes Back. Just sayin'. 9thGeneral (talk) 17:41, January 2, 2020 (UTC) Perhaps the Moligarchy has burrows under Albia, and they're about to go to Paris via the extremely low road? I'd have guessed they were on Mars or the Moon or some such, but the sub was reading high atmospheric pressure, not low. And Dimo would have twigged hard if it was geisters approaching, so it's not their home dimension. Thinking about it some more, there's always the Hollow Hills traditional interpretation, which would suggest that whatever's approaching are the Fair Folk. heteromeles : Why do I think the approaching beings will have a more than slight resemblance to the item the server in the last panel has on the tray? Hopefully they are pigmented differently, in a religious war with those not like themselves, and are sufficiently curious to not initiate hostilities immediately. Doug Relyea (talk) 10:39, January 1, 2020 (UTC) :: I have to admit to being completely puzzled as to what we are supposed to make of "the item on the tray"? It is organic in shape yet seems to have a circular opening at the top that is emitting light, based on Cheyenne's shading of the scene, at least. The lines radiating out of the top of it are apparently supposed to be beams of luminance, but they could also be spines or bristles. Is it food, some kind of sea creature? Is it a container, some kind of decorative bowl? Is it an elaborate lamp? I have no idea. -- William Ansley (talk) 18:20, January 1, 2020 (UTC) ::: I interpret it as a tray under a fancy serving dish with something in it. The contents could be an edible stick (pretzel stick or similar) or hors d'oeuvres on sticks. Argadi (talk) 18:29, January 1, 2020 (UTC) :::: That was my first thought, as well. But the more I look at it, the less certain I am. We'll have to wait and see if any clarification arrives on Friday. Doug Relyea seems to think it is a creature of some kind being served as food, and that the beings approaching are creatures of a similar kind, if I am interpreting his remark properly. If so, we should find out soon. -- William Ansley (talk) 18:57, January 1, 2020 (UTC) :::::As Maxim has removed several Things On Toothpicks, hors d'oeuvres in a funky tureen seems like a safe bet. PhoenixTalion (talk) 20:03, January 1, 2020 (UTC) :::::: I'm ashamed to admit it, but I didn't notice that Maxim was holding anything, let alone things on toothpicks until you pointed it out. Now I agree that the thing is "hors d'oeuvres in a funky tureen". -- William Ansley (talk) :::::I'm not sure the glowingness is meant to be taken literally; they want to call our attention to that (I think) container. But even if it's really glowing, it could just be a fancy presentation of the food inside. But also, if it's literally a whale they're inside, it doesn't have legs like that bowl. That would be if they were swallowed by an octopus. ➤ :::::Also, if they've been swallowed, the approaching lights might be other swallowees rather than other cetaceans. Bkharvey (talk) 20:36, January 1, 2020 (UTC) :::::A worst case scenario is like this: Maxim has taken from the tureen a glowy bit on a stick. There are more in the tureen, glowing. The glowy bits have been cut off some creature, . Others of that type of creature (swallowed by the cetacean) are approaching.⚙Zarchne (talk) 22:03, January 1, 2020 (UTC) :::::That was my thought, the items in the tureen are are on some sort of stick, one was drawn upside down to the others, so we'd have some idea of what was in there. I think it's some manner of crab or small lobster, served in a glowy sauce, but zooming in on it didn't help. I'm thinking what's arriving is functioning as "internal parasites", though most likely involuntarily. (other swallowees) Doug Relyea (talk) 00:11, January 2, 2020 (UTC) :::::The thing is, the light falling on Rakethorn in the last panel no longer has the warm glow of his lantern, but is colored more like that coming from the food. ⚙Zarchne (talk) 01:11, January 2, 2020 (UTC) Incense can be made from Ambergris--a.k.a. whale poop. It's the Jonah thing. Bosda Di'Chi (talk) 13:17, January 1, 2020 (UTC) :Yeah, between the incense smell, the ground being weird, the walls not echoing (squishy), and the huge shape approaching the other sub, I'm putting my money on inside a space slug Great Cetacean PhoenixTalion (talk) 20:03, January 1, 2020 (UTC) I am very pleased that the Big Feed is not going to waste. --- SpareParts (talk) 16:34, January 1, 2020 (UTC) The presentation of Maxim on this page is quite unusual. visually and in character terms. Visually, the artwork is detailed and careful, not like the horribly sketchy Maxim around the time of investigating Tobber's death, but really doesn't look like Maxim. I don't think this is just because he isn't smiling. His usually tall, skinny face is chubby-cheeked. His ears stick out more than usual. In the first three panels his mouth has three different expressions, none of them ever seen on him before, that I can remember, not even on the gallows in Zum Zum. And his conversation with Rakethorn isn't the least bit silly; on the contrary, he reasons quite well about the size of their enclosure based on visual and auditory evidence. Then in the final panel he's abruptly back to normal, and I don't believe it's just because there's food on offer. How it feels to me is that for some reason, he's willing to let Rakethorn see what Jägers can do, which he won't allow even with Agatha. I don't understand it any further than that. Bkharvey (talk) 12:34, January 2, 2020 (UTC) : You're wondering about all that after Phil decided to inflict him with a Pinocchio nose? --Geoduck42 (talk) 20:23, January 2, 2020 (UTC) :: Now that you mention it, that chef looks a lot like Disney's Geppetto... not any one feature, admittedly, but in overall aspect. ⚙Zarchne (talk) 22:54, January 2, 2020 (UTC)